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ON "CULTURE" AND "A LIBERAL 
EDUCATION" 



ON "CULTURE" AND 
"A LIBERAL EDUCATION" 

With Lists of Books Which Can 
Aid In Acquiring Them 

By 

JESSE LEE BENNETT 

«< 

"Men go to books not—Heaven forbid—for 
instruction y but for warmth and light ', for a 
thousand new perceptions that struggle in- 
articulately within themselves ■, for the en- 
largement of their experience, the echo of 
their discords and the companionship of 
beauty and terror for their troubled souls. 
They go to literature for life, for more life 
and keener life, for life as it crystallizes 
into higher articulateness and deeper sig- 
nificance. The enlargement and clarifi- 
cation of men's experience — that is the 
function of literature." 

Ludwig Lewisohn 




BALTIMORE 

THE ARNOLD COMPANY 

1922 






Copyright, 1922 
By JESSE LEE BENNETT 

AZZ rights reserved 



Printed in the United States of America at the Press of G. ALFRED PETERS CO. 



0££ -1 *22- 
klA690776 



FOREWORD 

During journalistic experience of fifteen 
years, the author of this book has received 
many scores of letters from men and women 
of all ages and classes requesting lists of books 
which could help them to gain "culture" or 
"a liberal education , \ 

This book has been prepared to meet the 
demand evidenced by these letters. 

It seeks to show that there is nothing mys- 
terious or artificial about culture. It seeks 
to show that culture is not something tepid 
and weak to be gained by repression and re- 
straint, but a thing vigorous and robust to be 
won by the unfolding and developing of the 
whole nature of the individual. 

It seeks to show that anyone who suf- 
ficiently desires can secure "a liberal educa- 
tion" without the assistance of colleges or of 
teachers. 

It seeks to direct reading in such fashion 
that broad comprehension of the field of 
knowledge can be gained. It seeks to afford 
a coordinated understanding which sets of 
"classics" and "masterpieces" and "best 



Foreword 

books" cannot possibly give until mental 
framework has been constructed into which 
the various volumes comprising such sets can 
properly be fitted. 

It is obvious that an essay upon culture 
should have some of the quality of rhythm 
and serenity which any real culture must 
bestow. Yet it may be found that the fol- 
lowing essay has, rather, a somewhat argu- 
mentative — almost controversial — tone. It 
may appear a defense as well as an exposition 
of culture. 

Some explanation of this anomaly is due. 
It follows: 

The excessively materialistic phase of Amer- 
ican civilization is obviously beginning to 
pass. Wealth and ease have now been pos- 
sessed so long that aspirations toward aes- 
thetic and cultural development are every- 
where manifest. The bitter arraignments of 
American lack of culture made by such writers 
as Mencken, VanWyck Brooks, Sinclair Lewis, 
Sherwood Anderson and many others have 
had effect. All classes of the population have 
become conscious of certain deficiencies in the 
national life and are beginning to attempt to 
correct them. 



Foreword 

The first response to this changed national 
attitude has been the immediate rise of a 
swarm of quacks seeking to supply the de- 
mand for some indesignate thing called "cul- 
ture" by all sorts of meretricious schemes and 
devices. 

The journals of the country are flooded with 
advertisements offering " culture" much as if 
it were a predigested breakfast food. By 
some of these advertisements "culture" is 
made synonymous with a highly artificial and 
unreal etiquette. By others it is made synon- 
ymous with mere voluble patter about the 
most sensational and artificial aspects of lit- 
erature, music and art. Even by the adver- 
tisements of legitimate and able publishers it 
is often made synonymous with mere sterile 
and uncoordinated information. 

Everywhere there is the implicit assumption 
that culture can be standardized, packed and 
labelled for our purchase and consumption, 
that little effort is necessary for its acquisition. 

It is not to be denied that the stridency of 
the assertions of these multitudinous quacks 
has left some influence upon the minds even 
of those who deeply and sincerely desire to 
develop themselves and to gain that real cul- 
ture which dignifies and ennobles life. 



Foreword 

At the present time, therefore, it appears 
essential not only to insist upon what culture 
is but also to insist upon what it is not. 

Destructive as well as constructive efforts 
are necessary. And destructive efforts can- 
not be suave and gentle. 

That is the explanation of any staccato, un- 
rhythmic quality which may be felt in the 
following essay. 



ON "CULTURE" AND "A LIBERAL 
EDUCATION" 

Culture is not a mere veneer, a garment, 
something apart from life. It is an integral 
part of life. 

Colleges and universities do not always give 
it. Truly cultured men are, indeed, almost 
as rare in colleges and universities as they are 
outside them. 

The only really educated men are self- 
educated. 

Certainly the only truly cultured men are 
self-cultivated. 

The first — and inexorable — essential to cul- 
ture is a sincere desire for growth and self- 
development, a sincere desire to live the fullest 
and richest life that is possible. 

Culture is the art of life. Culture broad- 
ens, deepens, quickens the current of life. 

The only culture worth consideration be- 
comes as much a part of a man's or woman's 
being as the lungs or stomach — as necessary 
to them as air or food. 

The acquiring of culture is the developing 
of an avid hunger for knowledge and beauty. 



14 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

Such culture cannot be bought as one buys 
a house or clothes or a motor-car. 

It cannot be gained by one who desires only 
to impress other people with allegedly "su- 
perior" knowledge. 

It can be acquired only by the use and exer- 
cise of a great and sincere curiosity — a desire 
to know about, to absorb and to enjoy all 
the infinite treasures of knowledge, of beauty, 
of art and thought and aspiration which the 
finest and rarest men and women of all ages 
have created or produced. 

It can be acquired only through effort act- 
uated by a sincere desire to "cultivate" one's 
mind and sympathies and appreciation much 
as a farmer must cultivate his plants. 

The world is an infinitely complicated 
place. And every man and woman is, ulti- 
mately, alone. Alone in a universe filled with 
terror and pain and misery but also filled with 
wonder, with beauty and with splendor. 

Knowledge of this wonder, this beauty, this 
splendor can do much to remove the dread of 
the harsher aspects of existence which comes 
— at times — to all of us. 

To pass through life without knowledge or 
understanding of what the great adventure of 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 15 

living has meant to millions of other men and 
women of other times and lands, to pass 
through life without knowledge or under- 
standing of all the great treasures of thought, 
of literature, of music, of science, of art which 
are the common heritage of all truly cultivated 
men throughout the world is to rob oneself of 
the most enduring satisfaction of life. 

Such knowledge and understanding consti- 
tutes the background of culture. 

It can be acquired by anyone who suf- 
ficiently desires. No teachers are necessary. 
No college is necessary. All that is required 
is a guide to take you a short distance through 
the first confusing wilderness of books and to 
point out some of the paths and directions 
which will take you to the treasure house 
which contains the common heritage of all 
mankind. 

Such knowledge and understanding is the 
birthright of all the ardent, generous and am- 
bitious souls who really desire it. Nothing 
but their own inertia or apathy can deprive 
them of it once the keys v which open the first 
few doors and gates which lead to their king- 
dom have been put in their hands. 

It is the object and purpose of this little 
book to seek to serve as a guide to your her- 



16 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education' 



itage, to serve as a key which will open a few 
of the many doors which lead from the tan- 
gled, muddled and confused world of every- 
day to the serene, spacious and nobly-ordered 
world of culture. 

But, inasmuch as mere information does 
not constitute culture, no mention of specific 
books can wisely be made until the true na- 
ture of culture has been depicted from many 
viewpoints. 

For the acquisition of culture requires more 
than mere reading. It requires a certain at- 
titude toward life. It requires a certain con- 
ception of one's place in the great scheme of 
things. It requires not only a keen desire 
for personal growth and expansion but a de- 
liberate enlargement of one's sympathies and 
tolerances; a study and appraisal of one's 
prejudices and preconceptions. 

Not, alone, what books you read matters. 
More depends upon what you bring to those 
books, what attitude you adopt toward 
them. Few books can teach you very much. 
But they can stimulate you. They can help 
to clarify your own thoughts, your own per- 
sonality. They can widen your horizon. 
Above all they can give you a new sense of 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 17 

the infinite complexity, the beauty, the mar- 
vellous potentialities of life. And that is the 
only real culture. Its essence is toleration, 
openness of mind, self-discipline, aspiration 
and desire for growth. 

Culture is the art of life. It's acquisition 
implies the deliberate shaping of one's self in 
order to live the greatest possible number of 
hours of one's life on the highest, noblest 
plane of being. 

Let us repeat most emphatically: Mere 
information does not constitute culture. 

Information is a part of culture but a rela- 
tively unimportant part. 

There are innumerable well-informed men 
and women who are not, nor ever will be, 
cultivated men and women. 

The mere reading of endless books cannot, 
of itself, entitle a man or women to be con- 
sidered "cultivated." 

It is not so simple as that. 

Culture is something infinitely more com- 
plex than knowledge. 

Culture is always keen, alive, alert. 
Knowledge may often be dead, dull, tedious. 

Let us repeat again : Culture is an attitude 
toward life. 



18 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

It is the deliberate "cultivation" of the 
whole personality — senses, intellect, emotions, 
sympathies and interests. 

It first begins to germinate when one sin- 
cerely seeks growth, development, wider 
knowledge, richer experience. 

It begins to develop when the disinterested 
use of the mind, and contact with nature, with 
literature, with music, with the E.ne, arts be- 
comes as vitally necessary to a man or woman 
as food or drink. It flowers when the actual 
hunger for knowledge and beauty becomes as 
great as any other hunger. 

Culture exists when one has learned to de- 
light in the free use of the mind and of the 
imagination. Culture exists when one has 
learned to delight in thought, in art, in music, 
in ever-increasing understanding of all that is 
beautiful, gracious, well-ordered in the aspi- 
rations of man. 

Keep always in mind that culture can never 
be secured by painful effort. Information 
and knowledge can be secured in that fashion. 
And information and knowledge are essential 
preliminaries to culture. But they become cul- 
ture only when they are acquired with and bring 
delight, when they are not painstakingly sought 
but ardently, avidly and eagerly absorbed. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 19 

m* ■ " ' " ■■! — .11 ■ H I ■■■■■■! II ■ !■■ II ■■■ II — ■■ ■ ■ ■!■!■■■ 

Some wise man has said: "Do not pursue 
culture. You will scare her to death." 
There is truth in the witticism. 

Culture cannot possibly be gained by fren- 
zied pursuit. 

It must be gained, rather, as a tree draws 
sustenance — by putting roots ever deeper into 
the soil of reality, of sympathy, of aspiration, 
of life at its keenest and finest. 

Culture is sap — the sap of life. 

You must reach down roots of sincerity 
and aspiration for it to be able to flow into 
your mind and heart. 

But keep this axiom clearly in mind: If 
you seek culture read no book which bores you 
or seems dull or stupid to you. You may ac- 
quire valuable information in that way. You 
may acquire practical knowledge which will 
help you to make a living in that way. 

But not culture. The book which bores you 
is a book either which has no message for you 
or a book for which you are not yet ready. 

If you have a real curiosity and a sincere 
desire to learn, no book capable of benefiting 
you can possibly appear dull or stupid to you. 
It may appear strange. It may require much 
concentration and close attention to understand. 
But that concentration and close attention will 



20 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

be pleasurable to you if you feel that you are 
really learning any thing worth while. If the book 
cannot hold your interest something is wrong. 

Books, music, pictures, thoughts, people — 
whenever these bore you they are either not 
for you or you are not ready for them Do 
not force yourself to try to like them. For 
the chances are that you will never succeed. 

There are endless books. There is endless 
music. There are endless pictures, thoughts, 
people. Somewhere — no matter who or what 
you are — there are books, music, pictures, 
thoughts, people which will delight you. 

You must seek until you find them. Seek 
without ever losing hope. For you will find 
them if you seek sufficiently. And inevitably 
they will lead you to others which you will 
also like. And, after a space, you may even 
discover that you can find joy and zest in 
things which once bored you illimitably. 

But remember always: Nothing which bores 
you can give you culture. The essential quality 
of culture is zest and delight. 

Culture is not a soft thing. 

It is not a mere decorative thing for tea- 
parties and dinner-tables. It is not a mere 
class distinction nor a mere luxury. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 21 

There are people without culture in the so- 
called highest circles of society. There are 
people with the essentials of rich and true 
culture in the so-called lowest circles of society. 

For culture is the fullest possible growth of 
the finest human qualities, jit is the rounded 
and harmonious development of the whole 
nature. True, it requires — at some time in 
the life — a certain leisure, a certain oppor- 
tunity for contact with art and the amenities. 
But do not make the mistake of believing that 
these opportunities will, of themselves, pro- 
duce cultured people in any real sense. They 
will produce a surface culture, a culture which 
is veneer. But that is all. 

A poor man with the attitude of culture is 
infinitely better equipped to derive enduring 
satisfaction and happiness from life than a 
rich man without culture and dependent upon 
physical activity and physical pleasures for 
gratification. 

On the other hand a wealthy man who is 
truly cultivated is enabled to derive from his 
wealth satisfactions and delights little 
dreamed of by mere plutocrats. 

Culture refines. That is inevitable. But 
it is of value only when there is something 
worth refining. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



To be worthy of the description: "a cul- 
tured man or woman" one must, first, be a 
real man or woman. 

The "freaks," the top-lofty "high-brows," 
the offensive "superior" people who prate so 
much of "culture," — do not be fooled or mis- 
led or thrown off your course by them. 
They are the parasites, the froth of culture. 
They are not men and women of culture. 

Never forget this fact: the great thought, 
the great art of the world has not been pro- 
duced for the amusement of, or the monopoly 
by, "the short-haired women and the long- 
haired men." It has been produced, through 
an irresistible urge, by real men and women 
for real men and women. 

It is the common heritage of us all — a her- 
itage of which nobody but ourselves can rob us. 

Innumerable great minds and souls, down 
long thousands of years, have abstracted from 
their experience — and genius — thoughts, 
dreams, beauties, aspirations to assist, to in- 
spire, to gladden all their fellows in their pas- 
sage through life. 

All men and women, who will, may have 
their lives vitalised, broadened and bright- 
ened by this great inheritance of the entire 
race. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 23 

There has prevailed altogether too long the 
sinister and terrible mistake that culture is 
some mysterious thing which only the rich, 
the wise, the learned can hope to possess. 

All that constitutes culture has been produced 
and now exists for normal, average ', wholesome, 
sincere men and women. 

It can afford joys and delights as vital as 
business, as exciting as poker, as wholesome 
as golf or motoring. 

It can open a wonderful and inspiring world 
utterly unknown or little suspected by those 
who have failed to find the right key. 

Too long have misconceptions and faulty 
methods of education hidden that key, de- 
prived millions of men and women of the new 
life and vigor, the glorious vision and the 
rich color which should — and can — suffuse 
their daily lives. 

The life of every man and woman is defi- 
nitely limited. It is divided into a certain 
number of years, of months, of weeks, of 
days, of hours, of minutes, of seconds. 

In a certain sense every one of those sec- 
onds is the center of eternity. 

It is one of the seconds of our life. It 
passes. And it will never return. 



24 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



It can represent growth. It can represent 
mere stagnation. It can represent retrogres- 
sion. We can go forward, we can stand 
still, we can go backward. 

Surely it seems to be the part of wisdom to 
seek to make most of our seconds represent 
growth. Surely it seems to be the part of 
wisdom to seek to live as greatly, as nobly, as 
splendidly as possible for the largest possible 
number of the seconds, minutes and days of 
our life. 

Instinct prompts us to seek the greatest 
possible physical gratifications. Few of us 
are content with second-rate food, or shelter 
or clothing if we can secure first-rate food or 
shelter or clothing. 

But instinct — and proper education — do 
not yet prompt us to seek the greatest mental, 
emotional and spiritual gratification during 
our limited lives. 

We are too often content to waste our pre- 
cious hours of leisure on [second- or tenth-rate 
books and music and thoughts when we might 
just as well have the best books, the best 
music, the best thoughts. 

The analogy is absolute. The mind and 
heart and soul need food as much as the body. 
What can be more absurd then to demand — 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 25 

and to struggle for — the best food for our 
bodies and to be content with dirty or adul- 
terated or unwholesome food for our higher 
natures ? 

The truly cultured man does not waste the 
precious moments of his life on vulgar tri- 
vialities. He does not starve his mind and 
emotions nor feed them trash and offal. 

Do not imagine that culture is of no prac- 
tical value. Culture broadens horizons. It 
lessens the distress caused by confusing per- 
sonal maladjustments to life. It accustoms 
one to think in broad terms. It gives un- 
derstanding of the broad essentials of life and 
affairs. All of this is invaluable in the prac- 
tical details of life. Statistics show that even 
in a severely practical country like America 
the liberally educated man is usually the em- 
ployer of the technically educated man. 

We see that culture is not as simple a thing 
as we may have believed. 

Let us consider one more aspect of culture 
which is essential to any successful journey 
through the wilderness of books or to any suc- 
cessful use of the scepter of that "kingdom of 
the mind" of which a wise poet sang. 



26 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



There are over 1,700,000,000 human beings 
now on earth. 

Billions of billions of human beings have 
lived during the past 500,000 years. 
• Yet can it be denied that most human be- 
ings merely duplicate and reduplicate the ex- 
periences, the emotions, the thoughts of each 
other? 

\Only here and there do you find the highly 
individualized man or woman who strives to 
think new thoughts, to experience new emo- 
ftions; who seeks deliberately to shape and 
mold his or her life as a sculptor molds plastic 
clay. 

Only here and there — most infrequently — 
do you find a man or woman who appears at 
all aware of the infinite possibilities for growth 
that life affords us all, if we will but seize them. 

Yet that man or woman is, really, the only 
truly cultivated man or woman. 

All civilization, all progress, all knowledge, 
all beauty have been produced by the dis- 
ciplined aspiration of such men down the ages. 

Their imagination has rendered possible the 
dream of finer ways of life. 

Their intelligence has rendered possible the 
formulation of a method of realizing that 
dream. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 27 

Their will has caused them to forge ahead 
despite all obstacles. 

Their courage has kept the will from falter- 

Imagination. Intelligence. Will. Courage. 

Those are the four supreme human quali- 
ties which have brought man out of barbarism. 

Those are the four supreme qualities which 
must be nurtured and developed and exer- 
cised by all who would acquire or add to that 
great store of knowledge and beauty which 
constitutes culture. 

Again : 

Every man and woman of the more highly 
developed races — certainly every man and 
woman ever likely to read this far in this 
book — has millions of brain cells which are 
never used. Yet, with proper stimulation 
and training, all these cells may be made to 
function. And the passing years will bring 
— not the usual boredom, complacency and 
inertia — but an infinite capacity for growth 
and enjoyment, an insatiable appetite for all 
the inexhaustible stores of recorded experi- 
ence and of created beauty which constitute 
literature and the arts. 

So we come to these inevitable conclusions: 



28 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



Each of us is an adventurer in the great 
mystery of life. 

Each of us has infinite possibilities for 
growth. 

When we begin to gain some conception of 
our real place in the scheme of things we grow 
eager to know all that there is to be known 
about this mysterious universe in which we 
live; about those who have inhabited our 
planet before us; about all the life that is 
lived on the planet with us. We grow eager 
to enjoy all the treasures that the wisest and 
finest and best of our predecessors and our 
contemporaries have produced. We grow 
eager to develop to the limit of our capacities. 

We are ready for self-cultivation. 

It will not be an abrupt, sudden and im- 
mediate process. We will not have a sudden 
transition from one condition to another. 

There is nothing sudden in these matters. 

Rather they represent a slow and gradual 
unfolding, development and growth. 

Like seeds. 

We plow certain parts of our mind which 
are like rich fields that have long lain fallow. 
We plant certain seeds of new understanding, 
new aspiration. Slowly but surely the seeds 
germinate and send out little roots and ten- 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 29 

drils. These we must nurture carefully. We 
must cultivate the fields; relentlessly root up 
the weeds of cynicism, apathy, vulgarity, pet- 
tiness, crude animal instincts. 

The plants will grow. They will become 
strong. Our minds and souls will become 
rich gardens bearing splendid blossoms and 
fruits. 

The degree of our ardent sense of the mys- 
tery and wonder and purpose of life will regu- 
late the strength and vigor of these plants as 
the sun regulates the strength and vigor of 
flowers and trees. 



SECTION II 

SOME LISTS OF BOOKS WITH 
COMMENT 

And so we come from these abstract con- 
siderations of the nature of culture to the 
practical problem of how we can hope to find 
our way through the millions of books to the 
books which are worth while; how we can 
find the key which will open the magic door 
to the treasury of the world's real knowledge 
and beauty. 

In the accustomed sense of the word, "cul- 
ture" implies, of course, the possession of that 
knowledge and appreciation of the outstand- 
ing figures and achievements in history, sci- 
ence, literature, drama, music, painting and 
sculpture which is possessed in common by all 
" cultivated' ' men of all races. 

Why are these figures" outstanding"? 

Because they have vitally altered, shaped 
or influenced the history of the world. Or 
because they have produced works of such 
excellence that men of all ages and races are 
delighted or influenced by them. 



32 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

We must certainly gain knowledge of these 
figures. But it must be real and understand- 
ing knowledge. Merely to learn the names 
of great writers, poets, dramatists, painters, 
musicians, sculptors can add little to our 
enjoyment of life. 

Merely to read great books, to look at great 
pictures and statues or to listen to great 
music can add little to our development un- 
less we truly and sincerely enjoy and delight in 
such things and have some understanding 
why they are entitled to be considered great. 

Mere knowledge about them constitutes 
information. 

It is delight in them and true appreciation 
of them which constitutes culture. 

So it appears that we should have some 
broad and general comprehension of what is 
known about the life of all men everywhere 
in order to understand why certain men or 
their works are to be considered great. For, 
inevitably, their " greatness" will consist in 
the wideness of their range, the universality 
of their appeal, the new dignity or poignancy 
or comprehension which their work has added 
to the common life of the world. 

As a preliminary to culture we must gain 
some clear comprehension of just what we 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 33 

are in relation to the world in which we live, 
to the past which has produced us, to our fel- 
lows who surround us, to the interplay of 
ideas, ideals, greeds and passions which have 
always been reflected in human society. 

Then we can move on to knowledge of the 
decoration of the structure of society — to 
knowledge of all the lovely, serene, gracious 
things which exist naturally in the world or 
have been produced by art, music, literature 
or science as man's expression of his own deep- 
est and keenest emotional and spiritual reac- 
tions to life. 

HISTORY 

Two fine books of the past few years which 
can give this preliminary knowledge are the 
much-discussed "Outline of History ,, by EL 
G. Wells and "The Story of Mankind" by 
Hendrik Willem Van Loon. The first of these 
is recommended for adult readers. The sec- 
ond for young readers. 

Both of these books are excellent and stim- 
ulating syntheses of the most important basic 
facts and ideas underlying history. 

It has only recently become possible to 
write such books — books which give the 
reader a comprehensible idea of the origin of 



34 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

the planet and of the life upon the planet; 
which give broad and sweeping pictures of 
the early development of civilization, of the 
spread of man over the earth, of the rise and 
fall of empires and of the forces and events of 
the past which have produced the present in 
which we now live. 

These books can afford the average reader 
what many years of college and university 
instruction have all too often failed to give 
students up to this time — a consistent and 
really informative, broad understanding of the 
essential facts and ideas of history and of the 
origin and development of life and civilization. 

As an introduction to that lively interest in 
life which is essential to culture these synthe- 
ses of essential facts — if ably and competently 
made as in the case of the Wells and Van 
Loon histories — are vastly superior to the 
huge sets of "classics" and " masterpieces. " 
They are, indeed, superior to years of study 
at the typical American college. 

For the syntheses give a stimulating new 
sense of the unity of life and history; they 
place things in perspective and give under- 
standing of life and of the past as a whole. 
They permit the reader to understand his 
place in the general scheme of things. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 35 



Too often the sets of "classics" and "mas- 
terpieces" give only a sense of confusion and 
loss. There is no essential unity to them. 
There is no coordination of them. 

The "Outline of History" gives that com- 
prehension of the past which is analagous to 
the view of a landscape secured from an air- 
plane. The sets of "classics" afford — at 
best — the comprehension of some period, or 
phase or personality which is analagous to 
the careful study — on foot and close at hand 
— of some of the largest trees or the most 
beautiful valleys or largest streams in the 
landscape. One may well know some of the 
trees and valleys and streams most intimately 
without having any clear vision or under- 
standing of the country as a whole. In man s 
past, moreover, there are so many millions of 
trees, so many wonderful and intricate val- 
leys and streams that it is not possible to 
have detailed knowledge of all of them. 

There is another grave objection to the use 
of "sets of "classics" and "masterpieces" as a 
means of education or culture. However 
alive and interesting they may be to a ^ mind 
which has broad comprehension of history 
and literature as a whole, they cannot but 
seem remote and far removed from actuality 



36 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

to a mind which has no such comprehension. 

Between the real and vital life of everyday 
— the life of interest and excitement — and 
the life sensed in these old books dealing with 
remote times and faraway events there ap- 
pears a tremendous and unbridgable gulf. 

Once a keen and ardent interest in all life 
and thought has been awakened, once the 
unity of life everywhere and at all times has 
been understood, once the growth of knowl- 
edge and civilization has been seen as touch- 
ing our own lives closely these classics and 
masterpieces are, of course, beheld in a dif- 
ferent light. We begin to understand why 
they have survived the ages; why millions of 
men down the centuries have greatly es- 
teemed and valued them. But we cannot 
understand this until we have some such pre- 
liminary broad comprehension as Wells and 
Van Loon can give us. 

Education — up to this time — has, at best, 
attempted to start with the past and come — 
very slowly — down to the present. 

Too many millions of students have fallen 
by the wayside in this terrible progress. 

Today adult education is, increasingly, 
seeking to give an initial broad, synthetic, 
coordinated outline of all the past. And 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 37 

then to start with the vivid problems, the 
outstanding personalities, the main currents of 
modern life and thought and to work back to 
the past when the past can no longer appear 
remote and detached from today, but a fas- 
cinating and illuminating record of other 
men's experiences with the same world, the 
same problems, the same ideas, ideals and 
aspirations; the same mysteries, passions and 
terrors which confront us. 

SCIENCE 

"The Outline of History" should give new 
understanding of the origin and development 
of life, the development of civilization, the 
broad outlines of the division of races, the 
location of the chief branches of the human 
family, the rise of the great empires and pow- 
ers which largely control the world, and the 
interplay of those forces which constitute the 
more important aspects of past history and of 
world affairs today. 

Similar broad understanding is necessary of 
the development of knowledge, and particu- 
larly of that exact, verifiable and communi- 
cable knowledge which forms the science 
which permits human intelligence to deal 
with the conditions which surround mankind. 



38 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

A voluminous work entitled "The Outline 
of Science" by J. Arthur Thomson has re- 
cently been published. It is a comprehensive 
work but requires much time to read. 

A most admirable shorter work is: 

Sedgwick and Tyler: A Short History of Sci- 

ence 

This is a splendid book which is remarkably 
informative. 

The field of science is so very great that no 
man can hope to be well informed concerning 
all its branches. Culture does not require 
such knowledge. It requires, only, a broad 
comprehension of the nature and aims of sci- 
ence and some knowledge concerning the 
various divisions and new developments of 
science. 

Most of the books to be recommended in 
this essay have been selected because they 
give new sense of the pleasure to be derived 
from the disinterested use of the mind. They 
are books calculated to whet intellectual ap- 
petite. It is assumed throughout that, once 
appetite is awakened, contact will be sought 
with books more important and authoritative 
but not so immediately interesting. 



\ 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



39 



Some unusually stimulating books in vari- 
ous broad fields of science follow: 



H. F. Osborn: 



Robert H. Lowie 
C. W. Saleeby: 



Carl Kelsey: 

George W. Crile: 

William A. Locy: 
W. C. Curtis: 

Jacques Loeb: 

Sigismund Freud: 

Rene Vallerey-Radot: 
E. Ray Lankester: 
Carl Snyder: 



William McDougall: 
Thomas Huxley: 
Percival Lowell: 



The Origin and Evolu- 
tion of Life 
Men of the Old Stone 

Primitive Culture 

Evolution — The Master 
Key 

The Cycle of Life Ac- 
cording to Modern Sci- 
ence 

The Physical Basis of 
Society 

Man — An Adaptive Me- 
chanism 

Biology And Its Makers 

Science and Human Af- 
fairs 

The Mechanistic Con- 
ception of Life 

General Introduction to 
Psychoanalysis 

The Life of Pasteur 

Extinct Animals 

New Conceptions in Sci- 
ence 

The World Machine 

Psychology 

Man's Place in Nature 

The Solar System 

Mars and Its Canals 



40 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

Svente Arrhenius: Worlds in the Making 

William Osler: The Evolution of Mod- 

ern Medicine 
E. G. Conklin: Heredity and Environ- 

ment 
R. C. Punnett: Mendelism 

Edwin Slossen: Creative Chemistry 

H. H. Newman: Readings in Evolution 

PHILOSOPHY 

After knowing the main facts about the 
past, about the world and about life one needs 
to know the chief ways in which various men 
of various kinds have looked at these facts, 
what explanation they have given of them. 

It is possible to approach this great field 
of philosophy by way of the remote past and 
through famous — but often tedious — books 
which are somewhat analagous to dark, moss- 
grown and forbidding gates. 

It is, also, fortunately, possible to approach 
this field by way of the immediate present and 
its vital concerns through books which are 
analagous to the garden gates of a friend to 
whom we go for discussion of personal con- 
cerns and questions. 

It is doubtful if any book can afford a bet- 
ter introduction to the broad field of philoso- 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 41 

phy that the remarkable little volume by G. 
Lowes Dickinson entitled: "A Modern Sym- 
posium. " It is difficult to believe that any 
man or woman can read this inspired book 
without gaining a wider conception of life 
from its pages. 

The plan of the book is this: 

At a great English country house one night 
a group of men of contrasting types sit up 
until dawn and talk about their individual re- 
actions to life. The whole gamut of modern 
reactions to life is voiced in the talk of these 
men. We go from the direst, forlornest pes- 
simism to the most undiscriminating praise 
of life; we pass from the most reactionary doc- 
trines to the most radical doctrines; we see 
life through the eyes of multitudinous clear- 
eyed thinkers. And in thus seeing it, our own 
opinions are clarified, our own mental horizons 
widened. 

Here are given the thoughts of the world 
which fight today for ascendency as they 
have fought down all the centuries. 

It is as essential to understand these 
thoughts as it is to understand past history 
if there are to be deep roots to our culture. 

The great merit of "A Modern Sympo- 
sium,'' however, is its interest. It is a little 



42 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



; 



book tingling with life. It radiates ideas as 
an electric bulb radiates light. It can give 
to many people a totally new conception of 
what pleasure and delight are to be found in 
thought and discussion. 

The man or woman who has read and en- 
joyed Wells' "Outline of History", Sedgwick 
and Tyler's "History of Science" and Lowes 
Dickinson's "A Modern Symposium" will not 
only have a better fundamental knowledge 
than is possessed by nine out of every ten 
graduates of American colleges, but will 
also have those primary requisites of culture 
— a new sense of the immensity and complexity 
of life, a new sense of the pleasure to be derived 
from the intense, disinterested use of the mind. 

As an introduction to philosophy "A Mod- 
ern Symposium" has been suggested because 
it is a book of rare charm and because experi- 
ence has shown that it brings remarkable 
stimulation and interest to many types of 
mind. There are numerous other books 
which deal interestingly with the general rela- 
tion of the individual to the past and the 
world about him and may awaken that interest 
in philosophy which will send the reader to 
the world-famous philosophers whose thoughts 
have greatly influenced the world. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 43 

The following books are suggested because 
they have charm and hold the attention: 

Will Durant: Philosophy and the So- 

cial Problem 
George Santa yana: Winds of Doctrine 

Sigurd Ibsen: Human Quintessence 

F. S. Marvin: The Living Past 

The Century of Hope 
Bertrand Russell: Problems of Philosophy 

The Faith of a Free Man 
Henri Bergson: Creative Evolution 

James Harvey Robinson: The Mind in The Mak- 
ing 
Plato : Symposium 

John Dewey: Reconstruction in Phil- 

osophy 

THE GATES GROW NUMEROUS 

These books give breadth of view. 

They will very fully indicate how tremen- 
dously wide is the range of human interests. 

After emerging from their pages there are 
infinite directions in which, according to tem- 
perament, one may proceed. 

In many instances these books will have 
stimulated curiosity or interest concerning 
matters discussed in their pages. It is always 
wise to follow where real interest leads. 



44 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

If one has already a love of reading, has 
felt no sense of strain in reading the Wells 
and Dickinson volumes and seeks to build 
even broader backgrounds before dealing 
with purely cultural subjects, it may be ad- 
visable to gain the kind of understanding of 
human relations that is given in such books 
as are listed in the following pages under the 
heading "Political Speculation. " Logically 
these should probably follow. But culture is 
far from being a logical thing. And the great- 
est purpose of this book is to introduce its 
readers to volumes which stir and stimulate 
and awaken rather than merely instruct. 

If one has not a real love of reading (see 
footnote) one should certainly seek to develop 
it. It is entirely a matter of temperament. 



A real love of reading is essential to any continuous intellectual 
development. Yet there are many people, greatly desirous of self- 
improvement, who find reading a task and a duty rather than a 
pleasure. 

The love of reading can be acquired by almost anyone. It is es- 
sential only that the proper book at the proper time develop it. It 
is advisable that one seek at any cost to gain a love of books and 
reading before starting on any course of reading for any purpose. 

Below is given a list of books which have delighted many readers 
of many kinds. They do not belong in the category of great litera- 
ture, perhaps, and they have little relation to any high type of "cul- 
ture" but they have that quality of charm which catches and holds 
attention and interest. They are books for amusement and relaxa- 
tion. They are suggested here simply because they may create a 
Jove of reading in some who lack it. They are particularly advised 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



45 



The books which are suggested in the foot- 
note or those which appear most appealing 
in the sections entitled "Science," "Imagina- 
tive Literature" and "Travel" might be ex- 
amined and tried with such a purpose in mind. 
If one is tremendously interested in one's 
personal problems and one's personal rela- 
tions to the general scheme of life it might 



for young people, 
for boys: 



Books marked with * are especially recommended 



Mark Twain: 
Walter Scott: 
R. D. Blackmore: 
Richard Harding Davis: 

W. J. Locke: 



Charles Kingsley: 
Jules Verne: 



C. Hanford Henderson: 
Henry C. Rowland: 
Jeffrey Farnol: 
Edwin Lester Arnold: 
Edward Lucas White: 
R. L. Stevenson: 



A. Conan Doyle: 



Rider Haggard: 

Hugh Walpole: 
Bram Stoker: 
George duMaurier: 
Lew Wallace: 
A. Neil Lyons: 

J. Fenimore Cooper 
Charles Reade: 



*Huckleberry Finn 

Ivanhoe 
*Lorna Doone 
*Soldiers of Fortune 
*Captain Macklin 

Derelicts 

The Beloved Vagabond 

Septimus 

The Morals of Marcus 

Hypatia 

*Around the World In Eighty Days 
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the 
Sea 

John Percyfield 

Germaine 

The Broad Highway 
*Phra The Phoenician 
*E1 Supremo 

The Wrong Box 
The Black Arrow 
Treasure Island 
The White Company 
•Sherlock Holmes 
The Sign of the Four 
*King Solomon's Mines 

She 

Fortitude 

Dracula 

Peter Ibbetson 
*Ben Hur 

Arthurs 

Sixpenny Pieces 
The Last of the Mohicans 

The Cloister and the Hearth 



46 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

bring unexpected interest or satisfaction to 
read such books as: 

Henry David Thoreau: Walden 

Richard Jefferies: The Story of My Heart 

George Gissing: The Private Papers of 

Henry Ryecroft 
H. G. Wells: First and Last Things 

Edward Carpenter: The Drama of Love and 

Death 
Henri Frederic Amiel: Journal 

Perusal of the sections dealing with various 
kinds of books may suggest some books which 
seem peculiarly appealing to one's particular 
type and temperament. 

BELLES-LETTRES 

Perhaps a wise way for the average person 
— -fond of reading, not excessively serious- 
minded and really eager for contact with some 
of the outstanding brilliant aspects and per- 
sonalities of today — would be to plunge into 
certain stimulating volumes dealing not with 
broad conceptions of life and history, but with 
ideas and theories vigorously advanced or 
attacked by brilliant men delighting in the 
free use of the mind and imagination as men 
delight in the free use of the muscles and the 
senses. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 47 

To read such a book as G. K. Chesterton's 
" Heretics/ ' for example, will be to gain new 
understanding of the pleasures and excite- 
ments to be found in the realm of the mind. 

In this book Mr. Chesterton appraises a 
number of his contemporaries — some of the 
foremost literary men of the period. But 
the merit of the book to those who have not 
always been booklovers lies in its keenness, 
its spirit, its cleverness — the new knowledge 
it gives that absolutely impersonal and dis- 
interested concern with literature and thought 
can awaken as much — and intense — excite- 
ment as a poker game or a golf match. 

Similar pleasure is to be derived from the 
stimulating book compiled by Ludwig Lew- 
isohn entitled "A Modern Book of Criti- 
icisms." Here have been gathered together 
excerpts from the writings of some of the 
shrewdest and keenest critics of life and letters 
of France, Germany, England and America. 
They form part of a little book brimming 
over with vivid and stimulating ideas which 
awaken and invigorate the mind like a power- 
ful tonic. 

Such books as "Heretics" and "A Modern 
Book of Criticisms" form part of that division 
of literature called "belles-lettres" And here, 



48 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

of course, the attitude towards life called cul- 
ture is to be found at its keenest. For the 
worth-while books of belles-lettres deal with 
literature, with art, with music, — with all 
that is most gracious and harmonious — in the 
spirit of those to whom these things are the 
most important things in life. Such a divi- 
sion of literature necessarily implies that the 
problems, the disharmonies, the crudities, the 
confusions and vulgarities of everyday life 
have been left behind, or seen in new perspec- 
tive, and that the writers of such books have 
dealt with those phases and aspects of life 
which are either serene, gracious and well- 
rounded or else vividly keen or intensely vital. 

It is for this reason that the broad field of 
belles-lettres affords, possibly, the best intro- 
duction to the world's culture since the world's 
culture is the material with which it deals. 

Some excellent modern books of belles-lettres 
which will open endless doors into spacious 
new worlds are these: 

Arthur Symons: Studies in Seven Arts 

Studies in Prose and 

Verse 
Figures of Several Cen- 
turies 
Holbrook Jackson: The Eighteen Nineties 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 49 

G. K. Chesterton: The Victorian Age in 

Literature 
Havelock Ellis: The New Spirit 

Affirmations 
Remy deGourmont: The Book of Masks 

Dixon Scott: Men of Letters 

James Huneker: Egoists 

Iconoclasts 

Overtones 
H. L. Mencken: A Book of Prefaces 

Stuart P. Sherman: On Contemporary Lit- 

erature 
Van Wyck Brooks: Letters and Leadership 

All of these deal with brilliant personalities 
of recent times who have done much to affect 
the life, the thought, the literature, art and 
music of the past two generations. 

Each of them will doubtless send the aver- 
age man who reads them seeking for other 
books by the same writers or by the writers 
with whom the books deal or to whom they 
refer. 

And so the "guidance through the first 
confusing wilderness of books, the pointing 
out of some paths and directions to the treas- 
ure house of culture' ' will have been accom- 
plished. For every really worth-while book 
is certain to be inextricably bound up with 
other worth-while books. And, once vital 
interest is awakened, one finds lines of thought 



50 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

or study to pursue with little or no need of 
further guidance. Any one personality, or 
line of thought, or branch of knowledge which 
stirs something deep in oneself will lead one 
inevitably to other similar personalities, lines 
of thought or branches of knowledge. 

While the world's culture is endlessly intri- 
cate, it is also entirely unified. It is like a 
garden with myriad gates and thousands of 
winding, criss-crossing paths and roads. 
It can be entered from almost any point to 
which real curiosity, real enthusiasm, real 
interest leads one. And, once entered, the 
paths circle and intertwine so that one has but 
to follow them to see as much of that great 
garden as is possible to one person in one 
lifetime. 

It is necessary to say in reference to these 
books which are recommended that they open 
up only certain very brilliant corners of the 
modern world. They introduce one to many 
vivid and outstanding personalities but these 
personalities, of course, constitute only a 
small part of contemporary culture and a 
tiny part, indeed, of all culture. 

The great service these books perform is in 
giving the right atmosphere, the right atti- 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 51 

tude. They are not solemn, dull, dryasdust. 
On the contrary they are keen clever, in- 
tensely alive. 

The man who gains from them the best 
that they have to give will be inexorably im- 
pelled to trace back the main currents of the 
ideas with which they deal; will be inexorably 
impelled to appraise these modern prophets 
and semi-prophets in the light of the classic 
figures which all the world holds to be great. 
But he will go to these figures with new ap- 
preciation, new understanding, new point of 
view. 

In other words, the classic system of edu- 
cation has been to take men from the colorful 
life of everyday and to force them to become 
acquainted with the great and austere figures 
of the past. These figures seemed impossibly 
remote from life and reality. One learned 
about them by rote and usually failed to as- 
sociate them with the vivid concerns of one's 
own life. One acquired mere information. 

The books suggested here furnish a new 
method of approach. They give contact 
with contemporary thought at its keenest. 
Any man or woman capable of acquiring cul- 
ture will not only recognise the relative value 
and importance of these men of yesterday and 



52 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

today but will be drawn back to the fountain 
head of thought by a curiosity welling up 
from a new sense of the unity and continuity 
and slow development of all thought and art. 

THE MIDDLE GROUND OF CULTURE 

It is essential that one have not only the 
broad background of fact given by Wells and 
the scientists, the broad understanding of 
philosophies touched on by Dickinson, and 
the immediate foreground of culture consti- 
tuted by knowledge of the glowing, exciting, 
stimulating and delightful writers, artists and 
musicians of today. 

There must also be a middle-ground com- 
posed of well-rounded and well-understood 
knowledge of the countries of the world (with 
their past and contemporary culture and out- 
standing celebrities), of imaginative literature, 
world-politics, music and art if one is not to 
have unpleasant blank spots in one's mind in 
general association with truly educated and 
cultivated people. 

OUR WORLD 

A knowledge of geography is absolutely 
necessary. One need not study geography as 
children study it in school but there must be 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 53 



some consistent and continuous effort to fix 
the general map of the world in one's memory. 

For it is on this world that we live. It is 
with the past of this world and with the peo- 
ple of this world that we are all concerned. 
Its general form and outline must be clear in 
our minds if we are to understand what we 
read about it. 

A most entertaining and enlightening book 
which can give us a new conception and un- 
derstanding of geography is: 

Huntington and Cushing: Principles of Human Ge- 
ography 

It will explain many mysteries to us. 

Monthly perusal of The National Geogra- 
phic Magazine and of the magazine entitled 
"Asia" will afford very great pleasure to 
every family. If a small desk globe and an 
atlas are used to locate the situation of all 
the interesting lands pictured and described, 
a very excellent knowledge of geography 
should be gained amost without effort. 



TRAVEL, EXPLORATION, ADVENTURE 

There is, moreover, tremendous pleasure 
and information to be derived from books of 
travel and adventure, or books showing the 



54 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



life and manner of living of men of other races, 
lands and times. A brief list of such books, 
which have been picked because of their 
strong general appeal, follows: 



Herman Melville: 

Robert M. Peary: 
Roald Amundson: 
George Catlin: 

Captain Cook: 
Richard Burton: 

L'Abbe Hue: 

Harry Franck: 

Joshua Slocum: 

Henry M. Stanley: 
Lewis and Clarke: 
Hakluyt's Voyages 

Fridtjof Nansen; 



Typee 

Omoo 

The North Pole 

The South Pole 

The North American In- 
dians 

Voyages 

Pilgrimage to El Medi- 
nah and Mecca 

Travels in Tartary, Tibet 
and China 

A Vagabond Journey 
Around the World 

Sailing Alone Around the 
World . 

In Darkest Africa 

Journal 

(May be obtained in 
eight volumes in the 

"Everyman's Library") 

Across Greenland 



These books will bring delight and enjoy- 
ment to almost anyone of any age. They 
will give a sense of the wonder of the world 
which will make the thought of geography 
take on a new form in the mind. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 55 

ARCHAEOLOGY 

There are other temperaments which may 
find stimulation, rather, in books which 
awaken a vivid new interest in the past by 
giving accounts of archaeological excavations. 
Some admirable books of this sort which can 
open wide vistas are: 

Henry Schliemann: Ilios 

James Baikie: Sea Kings of Crete 

John L. Stephens: Incidents of Travel in 

Yucatan, etc. 

W. M. Flinders Petrie: Ten Years' Digging 

Austen Henry La yard: Nineveh and Its Re- 
mains 

Joyce T. Athol: South American Archae- 

ology 
Central American Arch- 
aeology 

Hiram Bingham: Inca Land 

However gained, one must possess, sooner 
or later a sense of the unity of the world and 
of the world's peoples with a corresponding 
understanding of the artificiality and real 
significance of national boundaries if one is 
to have a satisfactory middleground to knowl- 
edge. A great Roman - once declared in a 
sentiment which has come down the ages: 

/ am a man, I believe that nothing which is 
human is alien to me. 



56 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

Such an attitude toward all our fellowmen 
is necessary if we are to gain the best that our 
fellowmen are able to give us. 

IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE 

The imaginative literature — poetry, drama 
and fiction — of the past and present consti- 
tutes one of the most important and prepond- 
erant aspects of world culture. 

For the writers of such literature have 
best depicted and explained life and human- 
ity, given new meaning and color to existence. 
The great imaginative authors are the glory 
of the countries and ages which have produced 
them. The field of the world's imaginative 
literature is one of the world's supreme pos- 
sessions. Few things have given more hap- 
piness and pleasure to mankind. 

A lifetime of reading is, of course, necessary 
to acquire any full knowledge of the great 
imaginative literature of all the countries of 
the world. But most Americans read pro- 
digiously in any case and the time generally 
spent upon the trashy fiction so prevalent 
today can be so much more profitably ex- 
pended upon the novels and plays which have 
lasting merit. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 57 

One loses nothing in deciding to read famous 
books which have gained world-wide appreci- 
ation or stood the test of generations, or cen- 
turies, rather than the latest magazine stories 
of "best-sellers" which will be forgot in a 
week or a month or a year. The books of 
real merit are indubitably more enjoyable^ 
more delightful \ more exciting. For no other 
reasons are they esteemed by critics and peo- 
ple of culture. 

A list of novels and plays which have 
brought great pleasure to many people of 
many kinds is appended. It makes no pre- 
tense at being anything save a list of excellent 
books from many lands which will give pleas- 
ure, and serve as an introduction to the liter- 
ature of other peoples and times. It is not 
a learned list to give information but a list 
to give enjoyment. It does not deal with the 
most famous American and English writers of 
recent generations nor with the most widely 
discussed writers of the present moment. Haw- 
thorne, Poe, Dickens, Thackeray and similar 
writers are too well known to need mention 
here. The younger writers of today are well 
advertised and few of them are yet defin- 
itely placed. 



58 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



COMPARATIVELY RECENT BOOKS 

(Books marked * are plays) 



AMERICA: 



Henry James: 

W. Dean Howells: 

Mark Twain: 
Frank Norris : 
Stephen Crane: 

O. Henry: 

Owen Wister: 

Mary Wilkens Freeman; 

Jack London: 

Booth Tarkington: 

David Graham Phillips : 
Gertrude Atherton: 
Edith Wharton: 
Robert Herrick: 
Margaret Deland: 

Mary Austin: 
Upton Sinclair: 

George Ade: 
Wm. Vaughan Moody: 
Theodore Dreiser: 
Ernest Poole: 
Eugene Walter: 
Joseph Hergesheimer: 
Eugene O'Neill: 
Sherwood Anderson: 



Daisy Miller 

The Rise of Silas Lapham 

The Mysterious Stranger 

The Pit 

The Red Badge of Cour- 
age 

Cabbages and Kings 

The Virginian 

A New England Nun 

The Sea Wolf 

The Magnificent Amber- 
sons 

The Plum Tree 

The Conqueror 

The House of Mirth 

Together 

The Awakening of He- 
lena Ritchie 

A Woman of Genius 

The Journal of Arthur 
Stirling 

In Babel 

The Great Divide* 

Sister Carrie 

The Harbor 

The Easiest Way* 

Java Head 

Beyond the Horizon* 

Winesberg, Ohio 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



59 



Sinclair Lewis: 
Willa Cather: 



Babbitt 
My Antonio 



ENGLAND: 



Samuel Butler: 
George Meredith: 

Thomas Hardy: 
George Gissing: 
Robert Louis Stevenson: 
George Moore: 

Oscar Wilde: 

Rudyard Kipling: 
George Bernard Shaw: 
H. G. Wells: 
W. H. Hudson: 
Arthur Wing Pinero: 

James Barrie: 
Joseph Conrad: 
John Galsworthy: 
John Masefield: 
G. K. Chesterton: 

Hilaire Belloc: 
Arnold Bennett: 
Henry Arthur Jones: 



The Way of All Flesh 
The Ordeal of Richard 

Feverel 
Tess of the D'Urbervilles 
The New Grub Street 
The Wreckers 
Confessions of a Young 

Man 
The Picture of Dorian 

Grey 
Kim 

Man and Superman* 
Tono-Bungay 
Green Mansions 
The Second Mrs. Tan- 

queray* 
Sentimental Tommy 
Lord Jim 

The Country House 
The Tragedy of Nan* 
The Napoleon of Not- 

ting Hill 
Emmanuel Burden 
Buried Alive 
Michael and His Lost 

Angel* 



FRANCE: 



George Sand: 
Gustave Flaubert: 



The Devil's Pool 
Madame Bovary 



60 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education 



Honore deBalzac: 
Victor Hugo: 
Alphonse DaudEt: 
Emile Zola: 

Guy deMaupassant: 
Pierre Loti: 
Anatole France: 

Edmond Rostand: 
Eugene Brieux: 
Romain Rolland: 
Henri Barbusse: 
Henri Bordeaux: 
Octave Mirbeau: 
Remy de Gourmont: 



Old Goriot 

Les Miserables 

Sapho 

The Crime of Abbe 
Mouret 

One Life 

An Iceland Fisherman 

The Crime of Sylvestre 
Bonnard 

Cyrano deBergerac* 

Damaged Goods* 

Jean-Christophe 

Under Fire 

The Fear of Life 

Business Is Business*-- 

A Night in The Luxem- 
bourg 



GERMANY AND AUSTRIA: 



Theodor Storm: 
Herman Sudermann: 
Gerhart Hauptmann: 
Friedrich Hebbel: 
Herman Bahr: 
Ludwig Fulda: 
Arthur Schnitzler: 
Franz Wedekind: 
Gustave Frenssen: 
J. Wassermann: 
Hugo vonHoffmannsthal: 



Immensee 

Dame Care 

The Weavers 

Gyges and His Ring 

The Concert 

The Talisman 

The Lonely Way 

Spring's Awakening* 

J6rn Uhl 

The Great Illusion 

Elektra 



RUSSIA: 



Ivan Turqueniev: 
Fedor Dostoievsky: 



A Sportsman's Sketches 
Crime and Punishment 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



61 



Nikolai Gogol: 
Leo Tolstoy: 
Maxim Gorki: 
Anton Tchekoff: 
Leonid Andreyev: 



Dead Souls 
Anna Karenina 
Foma Gordeyev 
Uncle Vanya 
The Seven Who Were 
Hanged 



ITALY: 



Gabrielle d'Annunzio: 
Antonio Fogazarro: 
Roberto Bracco: 
Mathilde Serao: 



The Flame of Life 
The Saint 

The Hidden Spring* 
The Land of Cockayne 



SPAIN: 



A. Palaccio Valdes: 

B. Perez Galdos: 
Jose Echegary: 
Jacinto Benavente: 



The Joy of Captain Ribot 

Dona Perfecta 

Mariana 

The Evil Doers of Good* 



HOLLAND: 



Louis Couperus: 
I. Querido: 

Frederik van Eeden: 



Small Souls 
Toil of Men 
The Quest 



BELGIUM: 



Maurice Maeterlinck: 
Georges Eekhoud: 
Emile Verhaeren: 
Georges Rodenbach: 
Pierre Hamp: 



The Blue Bird 
The New Carthage 
The Dawn 
Bruges The Dead 
People 



THE SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES: 

Henrik Ibsen: The DoLTs House* 

August Strindberg: Swan white 



62 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

Bjornstjerne Bjornson: The Fisher Maiden 

Selma Lagerlof: The Emperor of Portu- 

gallia 

Martin Anderson Nexo: Pelle The Conqueror 

Carl Ewald: Tie Old Room 

Knut Hamsum: Growth of the Soil 

Johan Bojer: The Face of the World 

These books are typical of the countries 
from which they come. They cast new light 
upon the real life of these countries. They 
are among the books of recent years which 
most cultured people throughout the world 
have read or about which, at least, they know. 

There are many books of the past which 
can give very great pleasure. The list which 
follows has been carefully selected in order to 
present merely books which are very human 
and interesting and can give a new and fav- 
orable idea of some of the literature of the 
past. 

It does not deal with such great world clas- 
sics as Homer, Aeschylus, Horace and Virgil 
nor with such national classics as Shakes- 
peare, Chaucer, Milton, Spenser; Dante, Pe- 
trarch; Corneille, Racine, Moliere; Goethe, 
Schiller and similar figures. An ultimate 
knowledge of and acquaintance with the 
works of these masters is, of course, essential 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 63 

to any well-rounded culture. But, in order 
to gain true appreciation of such writers, it 
is necessary that one approach them with 
intense curiosity and some comprehension. 
Many passably well educated men and women 
throughout the world have a high degree of 
culture and yet possess but the haziest ac- 
quaintanceship with the true classics. The 
following list will serve to show how much 
superior some of the great literature of the 
past is to the current popular fiction. De- 
light in these books — and they can give de- 
light — should, at least, introduce the reader 
into the ante-room of the world's greatest 
literature. If he desires to enter further he 
will know how to proceed for himself and will 
be able to proceed with less trepidation. 

A FEW ANCIENT BOOKS WHICH ARE 
DELIGHTFUL TO READ: 



Longus: Daphnis and Chloe ^Published in the 

Tatius: Clitophe and Leu-J Bohn Library as 

] "Ancient Greek 
Romances" 

Apuleius: The Golden Ass 

Petronius: Trimalchio's Dinner 

Lucian: Dialogues of the Dead. 



cippe 
Heliodorus: The Ethiopics 



64 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

A FEW FAMOUS BOOKS WHICH ARE 
EXCITING AND INTERESTING: 

ENGLAND: 

Fielding: Tom Jones 

Smollett: Roderick Random 

DeFoe: Moll Flanders 

Borrow: Lavengro 

FRANCE: 

LeSage: Gil Bias 

Voltaire: Candide 

Dumas: The Three Musketeers 

L'Abbe Prevost: Manon Lescaut 

SPAIN: 

Cervantes: Don Quixote 

Any one of these books can be read with 
more complete assurance of finding real pleas- 
ure than any of the much-advertised recent 
books of fiction. They are books known to 
practically all cultivated men of all races. 
Characters or phrases from many of these 
books have entered into general conversation 
all over the world. Not to know these books 
is to deprive yourself of pleasure. They do 
not constitute the world's greatest literature 
but they afford a most agreeable introduction 
to it. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



65 



The modern literature of the Oriental peo- 
ples and of the South American Countries is 
not yet a part of general culture and many of 
the most highly cultivated people have little 
knowledge concerning it. One must not for- 
get these parts of the world, however. To 
gain a general outline of some of these lands 
one may use the books which are generally 
known and do form part of the mental equip- 
ment of the average well-read person: 



George Isaacs: 
Harry Franck: 



W. H. Prescott: 
James Bryce: 

Lafcadio Hearn: 



SOUTH AMERICA: 

Maria 

Vagabonding Down The 

Andes 
Working North From 

Patagonia 
The Conquest of Mexico 
The Conquest of Peru 
South America 



Herbert Giles: 



japan: 

Japan-An Interpretation 
china: 

The Civilization of China 

INDIA: 

The Oxford History of India 
Rabindranath Tagore: Chitra 

ARABIA: 

Edward William Lane: Arabian Night's Enter- 
tainment 



66 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

POETRY 

The poetry which must be known and loved 
by a truly cultivated person covers a very 
wide field. The one essential preconception 
to blast away before approaching the subject 
of poetry is that true poetry need be either 
obscure, difficult or must deal with impossibly 
remote subject matter. On the contrary, the 
poetry which survives is the poetry which 
gives pleasure to the greatest number of men — 
poetry which is easily comprehensible and 
deals with subject matter of interest to all 
truly alive men and women. 

In the case both of music and poetry one 
must develop finer appreciation by contact 
and experience. One finds an introduction to 
the worlds of poetry and music through some 
minor work. As one progresses the appreci- 
ation becomes keener and the work first 
greatly liked may be seen in a new and less 
favorable light. Nevertheless it will have 
served a great purpose. 

The poetry in the following books should 
certainly give pleasure to almost any type of 
person capable of that deep feeling which is 
essential to the love of poetry. If these 
books give the pleasure they are capable of 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



67 



giving they will create such a love for poetry 
as will send you to other poets. 



F. T. Palgrave: 
Ernest Dowson: 
William Ernest Henley: 
Arthur Symons: 
Edward Fitzgerald: 

Algernon Swinburne: 
John Masefield: 

The Oxford Book of 

English Verse 
Siegfried Sassoon: 
Edgar Lee Masters: 

Eugene Lee Hamilton: 

Rudyard Kipling: 
Arthur Waley (translator) 

Oscar Wilde: 



The Golden Treasury 

Poems 

Poems 

Poems 

The Rubaiyat of Omar 

Khayyam 
Songs Before Sunrise 
The Widow in the Bye 

Street 



The Old Huntsman 

The Spoon River An- 
thology 

Sonnets of the Wingless 
Hours 

Collected Verse 

A Hundred and Seventy 
Chinese Poems 

The Ballad of Reading 
Gaol 



This list covers a very great range. Some 
of these books contain poems which must 
perforce appeal to any man of any tempera- 
ment. They are suggested in order to create 
a love for poetry. 

Once created, the names of the great poets 
of the world will become familiar to anyone 



68 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

who reads widely. It is always to be remem- 
bered that their work exists primarily to in- 
spire or to give pleasure. 

Printed in grim looking volumes, however, 
the work of the finest poets often appears for- 
midable, and remote both from beauty and 
life. If it has endured it has beauty or inter- 
est of some kind. As our sensibilities and un- 
derstanding develop we grow better equipped 
to appreciate this beauty or interest. Do not 
make painful efforts to appreciate the work 
of men who wrote merely to delight you. 
Learn to love poetry from such books as are 
recommended above. Then go to Shelley and 
Keats, to Gray and Wordsworth, to Brown- 
ing — even to Milton and Spenser — determined 
to discover whether similar — or greater — 
pleasure cannot be found from their pages. 

Possibly you will end by studying Latin in 
order to appreciate and enjoy the beauties of 
Horace ! 

But remember always that poetry exists to 
please you. It does not exist as something 
to be reverently and fearfully admired and 
respected. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 69 

WORLD POLITIC^ " RECONSTRUC- 
TION" AND POLITICAL 
SPECULATION 

Certain types of mind may be prompted 
to go immediately from the pages of "The 
Outline of History" to books which deal suc- 
cinctly and informatively with the current 
problems which are so much discussed in 
newspapers and magazines. 

Basically, all these problems are bound up 
with all the important phases of man's life. 
It is essential that one have information about 
them and opinions concerning them. 

Littleguidance is needed here but certain books 
may be found illuminating and stimulating: 

Herbert Adams Gibbons: World Politics 

This book will show the broad outlines of 
the recent and present relations of the great 
powers. 

G. T. W. Patrick: The Psychology of Re- 

construction 

Bertrand Russell: Principles of Social Re- 

construction 

These are two very wide-visioned books 
which must almost inevitably stimulate and 
broaden the mind of any reader. 



70 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



The matter of the reconstruction of the 
world according to some great plan touches 
all thoughtful people of today so closely that 
books like these, which deal with it in a man- 
ner to indicate the responsibility of every 
individual, are especially fitted to stir and 
quicken imagination and thought. 

The political and economic organization of 
nations — and of the world — is a matter with 
which all modern peoples are greatly con- 
cerned since the Great War and the Russian 
Revolution. The books in this field are, in- 
deed, a wilderness. The following are recom- 
mended either because of their fame or be- 
cause of their detached viewpoint: 

R. H. Tawney: The Acquisitive Society 

Thorold Rogers: The Economic Interpre- 

tation of History 
Walter Lippmann: Drift and Mastery 

James Bryce: Modern Democracies 

Bertrand Russell: Proposed Roads to Free- 

dom 
Waldo Brown (editor): Man or the State 

W. G. Sumner: Folkways 

J. J. Rousseau: The Social Contract 

Francis Neilson: The Old Freedom 

Edward P. Cheyney: Industrial and Social 

History of England 
John Reed: Ten Days Which Shook 

the World 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



71 



Seymour Deming: 

G. H. D. Cole: 

E. A. Ross: 

A. Lawrence Lowell: 

Sidney Low: 

m. i. ostrogorski: 



S. and B. Webb: 



John Ruskin: 
James Bryce: 



A Message To The Mid- 
dle Class 
Social Theory 
Principles of Sociology 
Essays on Government 
The Governance of Eng- 
land 
Democracy And The Or- 
ganization of Political 
Parties 
A Constitution for The 
ja, Socialist Common- 
ly wealth of Great Bri- 
W tain 

Unto This Last 
The American Common- 
wealth 



The imagination of young readers has often 
been caught by the famous books dealing 
with ideal commonwealths — Utopias. The 
following list is suggested as affording likeli- 
hood of giving both pleasure and profit: 



Plato : 

Sir Thomas More: 
Campanella: 
Samuel Butler: 
William Morris: 
Edward Bellamy: 
W. H. Hudson: 
H.G.Wells: 



Republic 

Utopia 

The City of the Sun 

Erewhon 

News From Nowhere 

Looking Backward 

A Crystal Age 

A Modern Utopia 



72 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

All the main currents of world politics and 
of the important immediate social and politi- 
cal problems confronting the world are dealt 
with in the better type magazines. Knowl- 
edge of the developments of the contempor- 
ary culture of each country and the rise of 
celebrities in the various fields can scarcely 
be secured save from periodicals. The popu- 
lar American magazines give some material 
along these general lines but it is sensation- 
ally featured and is unnecessarily sugar- 
coated with scatter-brained fiction. 
f§jThe Yale Review and The Atlantic Monthly 
rather successfully deal with important 
events and outstanding personalities. 

There is an admirable weekly magazine 
published in America which — to a degree rare 
in the American magazines — assumes inform- 
ation and intelligence on the part of its read- 
ers. This magazine prints nothing written 
in America but gives the most important ar- 
ticles on a wide range of subjects which appear 
in the best papers of the whole world outside 
America. The paper is ably edited. It is 
entitled: The Living Age. Weekly perusal 
of it will give a wide view of the world and 
much highly interesting cultural mater- 
ial. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 73 

The Nation is a weekly magazine which 
represents some of the best aspects of Ameri- 
can culture and brings a wide range of valu- 
able material to its readers. 

Both of these magazines are almost essen- 
tial to any American with real curiosity con- 
cerning the life of the world about him. In 
their brief compass they give information and 
understanding not to be gained so easily — if 
at all — from any other sources. 

MUSIC 

The sincere enjoyment of good music and 
some knowledge of the best music are essen- 
tial parts of culture. There are few people 
who lack the capacity for enjoyment of good 
music if it is once properly brought before 
them. 

In this day of ubiquitous phonographs there 
is little excuse for failure to attempt to learn 
the secret of the universal appeal of that 
music which is only considered fine and great 
because it has given so much pleasure to so 
many people of all ages, races, types and 
kinds. 

So-called popular music delights at first 
but grows wearisome very quickly. 



74 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

Good music may not make such an immedi- 
ate favorable impression but is more greatly 
enjoyed the more it is heard and never grows 
tiresome or tedious. 

A splendid way to learn to love good music 
is simply to keep playing records , that are 
worth while over and over until the music 
has become familiar. Amost imperceptibly 
one will discover that a new world of enjoy- 
ment has been opened up and the music, 
previously loved, will appear very tawdry and 
tiresome. 

It is not without reason that what is called 
good music lasts for years, for generations and 
for centuries, while the popular music which 
seems so delightful for a week or a month 
becomes so tedious and tiresome after a brief 
time. 

Some people have a natural love for good 
music. Most Americans — probably because 
of the great prevalence of popular music — 
find it necessary to acquire appreciation and 
love for it. 

How can such appreciation and love be 
acquired ? 

Certainly not by mere forceful effort or by 
pretense. 

But there are other ways. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 75 

One may not be able to find enjoyment at 
a symphony concert where Beethoven's Fifth 
Symphony is heard for the first time. One 
may not be able to find enjoyment on first 
hearing Madame Butterfly or Boheme or Pag- 
liacci sung. For the untrained and umnusical 
man has to hear such music many times before 
the truest and fullest enjoyment is derived from 
it. And, too often, one evening of boredom 
establishes an assurance that: "I have no ear 
for music" and no future efforts are made to 
hear it. 

There is some good music which is univer- 
sally known and — even if hackneyed — gives 
pleasure to many people who think they do 
not like music. It gives pleasure simply be- 
cause it has been heard until it is known and 
can be followed. The average non-musical 
person, for example, likes Mendelssohn's 
"Spring Song" and Schubert's "Serenade", 
Wagner's "Prize Song", Chopin's "Funeral 
March" and similar pieces which are fre- 
quently played in places of public resort. 

Equal or greater pleasure can be secured 
from the greatest music existing if one pro- 
ceeds properly. 

Let the average man who thinks that he 
does not like "grand opera," for example, buy 



76 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

some of the records from Puccini's "La 
Boheme" or "Madame Butterfly" or from 
Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" which are listed 
below. Let him adopt toward them as bored 
and hostile or as indifferent an attitude as 
he may choose. Only let him play them — 
interspersed with music which he does like. 
Let him play them over at intervals until he 
has heard each of them eight or ten times — 
until the themes and melodies have grown 
familiar to him. Then — when opportunity 
offers — let him go to hear the operas from 
which they are taken and it is most improbable 
whether that man will ever again say that he 
"does not like opera." So with other truly 
fine operas, so with symphony or chamber 
music. If it is really meritorious and is 
heard frequently enough it will be liked. 

Some of the music listed below will be liked 
at first hearing. Other pieces may be thought 
stupid or incomprehensible at first hearing. 
The author of this book ventures to believe, 
however, that if the records are played in the 
right atmosphere and frequently enough, many 
of them will be liked and enjoyed by almost 
any man or woman of any temperament. 
If they are so liked the feeling that "classic 
music" or "grand opera" music is some dull 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



77 



and incomprehensible thing will be removed 
and the first introduction to the wealth and 
glory of the world's music will be given. 
Once given, there should be little difficulty 
experienced in penetrating as far into the 
treasure house of music as one cares to pro- 
ceed. 

And what a tremendous new pleasure will 
have been added to life! 



La Boh erne: 
Madama Butterfly: 

Pagliacci: 



Louise : 



ITALY 

Puccini: 

Che gelida manina 
Musetta Waltz _ 
Mi chiamano Mimi 
O quanti occhi fisi 
Un bel di vedremo 
Tutti i fior 

Leoncavallo: 

Prologo 

Coro delle campane 

Che volo d'augelli 

FRANCE: 

Charpentier: 

Depuis le jour 

Debussy: 

En bateau 



78 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

RUSSIA: 

Glazounow: 

Meditation 

Borodin: 

Prince Igor: Chorus of the Tartar 

Women 

Rimsky-Korsakow: 

Chanson Indoue 
Tschaikowsky: 

Chanson triste 
Andante cantabile 

GERMANY: 

Wagner: 
Die Walkure: Ride of the Valkyries 

Bach: 
Suite in D. Major: Air for the G string 

Mozart: 
Quartet in D. Major: Andante 

THE FINE ARTS 

The acquisition of knowledge about, and 
appreciation of, the great art of the world will 
probably be found more difficult than any 
other aspect of culture. In America it is par- 
ticularly difficult for the man outside the 
great cities where are museums, galleries and 
the print rooms of great libraries. 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 79 

Several facts must be kept in mind: the 
mere looking at miles of pictures in galleries, 
the mere efforts to force oneself to appreciate 
and like these pictures will never get one very 
far. 

There is no particular merit in a picture as 
a picture. It might be well for the cultural 
development of man if a large number of 
existing paintings were destroyed. 

Particularly in the field of art our funda- 
mental axiom that one must delight in things 
in order to advance culturally holds true. 

Amid the hundreds of thousands of pictures 
and statues of the world there are pictures 
and , statues which must, perforce, delight 
and please you no matter what your tempera- 
ment or type. 

Much fun has been made of the person who 
says: "I don't know much about art but I 
know what I like." 

And, of course, if such a thing is said in an 
arrogant, intolerant spirit it is rather tiresome. 

But one must "like" works of art. That 
is what they are for. If certain works of art 
are universally admired, if we see that they 
do give very great pleasure to many kinds of 
people we should certainly try to analyze our 
own failure — if such exists — to appreciate or 



80 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

enjoy them. Pretense or frenzied effort will 
not help. Only cultivation of our under- 
standing, of our sense of beauty, of our desire 
to add every wholesome new pleasure and inspir- 
ation to our lives, can develop appreciation. 

When Whistler's famous "Battersea 
Bridge" was first painted, a great art critic — ■ 
John Ruskin — condemned it severely and said 
that "an ignorant charlatan" was "flinging a 
pot of paint in the British public's face." 
When Whistler's portrait of " Miss Alexander" 
was first exhibited it was so caustically crit- 
icised by all the journals that the little girl 
whose portrait it was grew ashamed to be 
known as the subject of it. 

Today we see that these two pictures are 
works of very great and distinguished beauty. 
They have shown us beauty where we had 
not, before, seen it. 

The incidents are mentioned in order to 
show that there is no inflexible criterion of 
taste and beauty. Great painters and critics 
who knew much about art did not "like" 
Whistler's novel work. Yet it was beautiful 
and is now so considered. 

Let us consider certain phases of the fine 
arts not generally made clear. 

There are two aspects of all the fine arts: 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 81 

There is the art which is spiritual stimula- 
tion — which embodies some great concept, or 
uplifts and ennobles the beholder. 

There is the art which merely decorates — 
which embellishes, refines life, expresses some 
rare type of personality or opens new aspects 
of physical beauty. 

The first kind of art is the greater. But it 
is rare. 

In it the artist has first acquired great 
facility, perfected technique and has, then, 
used these to embody, or portray or express 
some great idea or ideal. His work may not 
be immediately and obviously beautiful to the 
beholder who does not understand it. 

The famous statue by August Rodin en- 
titled "Le Penseur" is art of this sort. This 
great statue expresses the mystery of man's 
existence and his tremendous curiosity as to 
the meaning and purpose of his life. 

A man — appreciative of such work — who 
suddenly sees this statue while lost in thought 
about some immediate personal problem or 
about some trivial or banal experience or ad- 
venture, is brought hard and fast up against 
the thought of the tremendous mystery of his 
own mere existence. He is lifted out of im- 
mediate trivialities into a higher plane of 



82 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

thought. "Le Penseur" is not pretty or 
graceful. It has nothing to say to the shal- 
low, the vulgar, the stupid. But, neverthe- 
less, it is a great work of art. It has rhythm 
and great beauty for those who understand. 
It embodies a great, eternal conception. 

So with the famous drawings of x^lbrecht 
Diirer — made about the time America was 
being discovered. Here is marvellous tech- 
nique^ almost unbelievable capacity, used to 
express great universal ideas. To those whose 
taste and understanding have been vitiated 
or destroyed by the mere prettiness which is 
called "art" in America these prints may ap- 
pear not only incomprehensible but even ugly. 
Yet study the print entitled "Melancholia" 
or the one entitled "Ritter, Tod und TeufeV 
(The Knight, Death and the Devil). 

The first of these symbolizes the melan- 
cholia, the hopelessness and despair, which 
come — at some time — to all men. All the 
instruments of science are left unused. And 
the winged figure broods as men brood when 
all effort seems hopeless. 

In the second picture the knight — repre- 
senting the disciplined aspiration of man — 
progresses despite all obstacles. The pleas- 
ure city on the hill does not allure him, death 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 83 

and the devil do not hinder him, the knowl- 
edge that life is fleeting and incomprehensible 
does not stop him. He goes on his way — 
as the aspiration of man must always go — 
despite melancholia, despite doubt and 
evil. 

Over each of these pictures one can ponder 
and study for hours — discovering new ex- 
cellences, new beauties. The fact that any 
man could draw as these pictures are drawn is, 
in itself, remarkable while the fact that the 
great facility is used to express universal ideas 
of life renders the pictures — like the statue of 
Rodin's — great works of art. 

A Corot painting of a misty landscape is a 
very fine type of decorative art. 

Most art is decorative art. It is infinitely 
diverse. It assumes a million forms. It 
shows every aspect of life as seen by every 
type of man. There is no normal man or 
woman who cannot find some great picture 
or statue or other work which will delight 
them. It may be one of the sun-saturated 
paintings of the Spaniard Sorolla; it may be 
an ancient Greek head of a lovely youth; it 
may be a virile and startling picture by the 
German Stuck or an etching or painting by 
the Swede Zorn. 



84 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 



The field is so great, so wide that one can- 
not write of it except in broad and sweeping 
terms. But the great fact remains: the fine 
arts exist to inspire or to delight you. You 
must equip yourself with the understanding 
and appreciation to receive what they have 
to give. 

There follows a list of books which deal 
with art and artists in such manner as may 
cast new light upon the subject of art and 
may awaken imagination and appreciation 
and send one seeking to see the great works 
described. 



Elie Faure: 
August Rodin: 
Julius Meier-Graeffe 
Carl Larsson: 
James Huneker: 

Camille Mauclair: 

George Moore: 
S. Reinach: 



Rockwell Kent: 
E. A. Parkyn: 
Banister F. Fletcher: 
Royal Cortissoz: 



History of Art 
Art 

Modern Art 
Das Haus in der Sonne 
Promenades of an Im- 
pressionist 

The French Impression- 
ists 
Modern Painters 

Apollo — An illustrated 
manual of the history 
of art through the ages 

Wilderness 

Prehistoric Art 

History of Architecture 

Art and Common sense 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 85 

Richard Muther: History of Modern Paint- 

ing 
Frank Weitenkampt: How to Appreciate Prints 

Samuel Isham: History of American 

Painting 

CONTACTS 

Books, music, pictures, magazines — these 
are accessible to almost everyone. They are 
valuable, indeed essential, to the development 
of culture or of a broad and liberal and in- 
formed outlook upon life. 

But personal contacts are also necessary. 
The clarification of thought, the stimulation 
of interest which come from discussion or 
from enjoyment shared with others — these 
make life infinitely more zestful and colorful. 
They give a mellowness and joy which solitary 
enjoyment of literature and art can seldom 
give. 

All who desire culture should seek contact 
with people of similar tastes, inclinations and 
enthusiasms. 

The essence of culture is growth, develop- 
ment — like ripples spreading in water. Per- 
sonal contact with other growing and aspiring 
minds can stimulate this growth and develop- 
ment illimitably. 



86 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

There is a free masonry between men of real 
culture before which barriers of race and age 
and class go quickly down. Two men, for 
example, who discover that each has read and 
liked W. H. Hudson's "Green Mansions'* 
have an immediate bond of understanding 
which sport or business can rarely give. De- 
velop a sincere and enthusiastic appreciation 
of music and art and you will find new con- 
tacts without effort. Like is drawn to like. 
Develop an enthusiastic interest in life, in lit- 
erature, in disinterested knowledge and you 
will find that your acquaintance with culti- 
vated people will enlarge surprisingly. 

The mere surface qualities which so many 
Americans look upon as "culture" need little 
attention. Make yourself a fine person and 
automatically these qualities will develop. 
For a fine person, of necessity, thinks, feels 
and acts finely. Acquire a proper sense of 
the dignity and mystery of life, a proper sense 
of the beauty and splendor of the world and, 
inevitably, dignity and fine courtesy must 
develop. 

Efforts to acquire the mere surface aspects 
of culture without the reality underneath are 
quite like the efforts to secure rosy cheeks with 
rouge rather than by wholesome life and pro- 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 87 



per exercise and food. Little satisfaction is 
gained and few observers are fooled. 

A wise man has said: "Produce fine people. 
The rest will follow/' Make yourself a sin- 
cere and aspiring person. The rest will follow. 

THE TECHNIQUE OF READING, BOOK 

COLLECTING AND LIBRARY 

BUILDING 

To develop mentally, the reading of obvi- 
ously trivial, silly or foolish books must be 
abandoned completely. Any kind of pleasure 
which such books are capable of giving can be 
secured in greater measure from worth-while 
books. 

The vocabulary cannot be enlarged unless 
resort is made to a good dictionary to gain the 
real meaning of unfamiliar words. A good 
dictionary is, hence, indispensable. The 
habit of referring to atlases and encyclopae- 
dias must also be acquired if knowledge and 
understanding are to be other than very su- 
perficial. The famous encyclopaedias are 
very desirable if they can be secured. The 
smaller and inexpensive Nelson and Every- 
man's Encyclopaedias, however, occupy little 
space and have much merit. 



88 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

Too much reading is inadvisable. There 
are many men who have read themselves stu- 
pid. Wisely planned and directed reading is 
not likely, however, to produce such an ef- 
fect. 

Excellent books can now be obtained 
in small pocket editions. The Haldeman- 
Julius Company at Girard, Kansas, publishes 
some hundreds of volumes by the most fa- 
mous writers of all lands and ages. These 
little books can be bought for less than ten 
cents apiece. Carried in pocket or handbag 
they can render pleasant and profitable many 
hours which might otherwise be frittered 
away on newspapers or magazine fiction. 
The Everyman's Library publishes nearly a 
thousand volumes of the greatest books of all 
time. Excellent material is to be found in 
the "Home University Library," 'The Mod- 
ern Library," "The Wayfarers' Library" and 
similar small and inexpensive volumes put out 
in uniform binding by various publishers. 

New books must be purchased from book- 
shops selling such books. But it is to be re- 
membered that the great books of the past 
can be secured at "second-hand" or "old" 
book stores for amounts sometimes almost 
incredibly small. True book lovers have al- 



On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 89 

ways been drawn to old book-stores. Brows- 
ing among their shelves one encounters un- 
expected and unimagined volumes on every 
conceivable subject. Such stores are fre- 
quented by interesting men who know and 
love books. The best old-book shops have 
something of the atmosphere of the literary 
clubs and coffee houses of an earlier period in 
England. 

Those who would build a library should 
certainly seek out such stores. And all those 
who seek continuous mental growth should 
seek to build libraries no matter how small. 
If a book is worth reading it is worth possess- 
ing. A true library is merely an external 
reflection of the owner's knowledge and inter- 
ests and aspirations. 

Collections of framed prints of great master- 
pieces and — if one plays no instrument — a 
collection of fine graphaphone records can 
also give enduring satisfaction and pleasure. 
They turn a house into a home. They create 
an oasis of beauty and peace in a restless 
world. They are not expenditures in any 
real sense but investments which pay divi- 
dends of thousands per cent while retaining 
the principal almost intact. 



90 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Education" 

In building a library — or any collection — 
destruction and wise selection are almost as 
essential as acquisition. If your library is to 
be a true delight it must be filled only with 
keen and alive books which have really stimu- 
lated or delighted you. To intermix such 
books with dull or stupid volumes which one 
has inherited or acquired in boyhood is to 
lose the essential feeling of your library as a 
perfect thing, however small. Discard from 
your shelves all stupid and dull and stodgy 
books. You would not mix stupid and dull 
and stodgy people with your brilliant and 
stimulating friends if you could help it. Your 
favorite books are your friends. Your fav- 
orite pictures and records are your friends. 
Do not insult them by putting them in com- 
pany with trivial or silly or vulgar books and 
pictures and records. 



CONCLUSION 

The colleges and universities of America 
cost the country hundreds of millions of dol- 
lars each year. 

The students at these colleges and univer- 
sities give from four to eight years to attend- 
ance at thousands of lectures. 

Many highly trained technicians in the var- 
ious sciences are graduated from the colleges 
each June. 

But it is an indubitable fact that the aver- 
age college or university graduate in America 
is scarcely to be considered either a cultured 
or a liberally educated man if any valid stand- 
ards are used by which to gauge him. 

A small book of this kind can scarcely hope 
to give in a few hours what costly and elab- 
orate institutions of learning do not give in 
many years. 

Yet all real education is self-education. 
Too often the very intricacy of colleges causes 
confusion and lack of perspective. The stu- 
dent cannot see the forest for the trees. He 
rather expects knowledge to be instilled into 
him by some mysterious process without much 



92 On "Culture" and "A Liberal Edu6ation" 

effort on his part. Often he studies in order 
to pass examinations rather than to learn for 
his own benefit. The social relations and the 
many highly specialised courses cause forget- 
fulness of the main object. 

There are numerous very real and practical 
reasons why solitary reading according to a 
plan and program, as suggested in this book, 
may give many men and women what col- 
leges might not give them. 

The great essential — whether at college or 
outside college — is to develop a new curiosity 
about every phase of life, and to set to work 
to gratify that curiosity, to utilize every brain 
cell, to know and to feel to the limit of one's 
possibilities. 

Your mind is more than a kingdom. It is 
an illimitable empire. 

Reign in it! 



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